Supercharger



@et 27, 931. R. v. HUTcHlNsoN 1,829,400

SUPERCHARGER Filed Aug. 6, 1927 abbo/mw f Patented ct. 279 19.31

ROLAND V. HUTCHINSON, OF LANSING, MICHIGAN, ASSIGNOR TO GENERAL MOTORS RESEARCH CORPORATION, OF DETROIT, MICHIGAN, A CORPORATON F DELAWARE SUPERCHARGER Application led August 6, 1927. Serial No. 211,150.

' rlhis invention relates to supercharges used on internal combustion engines as applied to automotive vehicles and particularly to a system of heating the supercharged mixture prior to its reaching the intake manifold.

ln the conventional internal combustion engine it is customary to apply heat from the exhaust gases to the incoming fuel mixture, butas tar as l am aware this system has not been adopted in connection with engines on which superchargers are used. lt is accorde ingly one of the principal objects of the invention to construct a system which will be adapted lto a supercharged engine and will heat the fuel after it has been supercharged and prior to its entry into the intake manifold.

ln carrying out the invention use is made of an automatic control of the heat delivered to carburetted uel by the provision of a valve in the exhaust pipewhich is controlled by a bellows operated by the pressure in the intake manifold. When the pressure in the intake manifold is high it will expand the bellows and by means of a suitable system of linkage will swing the valve so that less hot exhaust gas is applied to the incoming mixture. When the pressure in the intake manifold is low, the bellows will collapse and cause the valve to close and thereby shunt the greater portion of the hot gases so that the heat may be applied to the incorning fuel mixture.

v In order to heatthe carburetted gas, l make use ot a jacketed hot spot installed at the discharge opening of the supercharger. rlhe exhaust gas is conducted to the hot spot by a pipe which is tapped into the exhaust manifold and returned from the hot spot to theexhaust tube by means of a second pipe. The control valve previously referred to is positioned in the exhaust tube between the entrance pipe 'from the manifold and the exit pipe to the exhaust tube.

The hot spot is square in cross section and has a spring operated valve arranged thereuel as may lodge on the valve to the. hot

spot wall, strike it at high velocity and become further mechanically and 'thermally pulverized after passing through the supercharger. Y

The invention is disclosed in the accompanying drawings in which:

Fig. 1 is a .side view of the front portion of an internal combustion engine Showing the invention applied thereto.

Fig. 2 is a view ot the structure of F ig. l looking from the left.

Fig. 3 is a sectional view through the hot spot at the supercharger discharge substantially on the line 8 3 of Fig. 2 except that a portion of the lett hand side of the figure is taken through the axis of the valve for purposes of clearer illustration.

Referring to the numbered parts on the drawings, 10 denotes an internal combustion engine such as used on a Buick automobile, l2 is the exhaust manifold, 14 the intake manifold and 16 the exhaust tube.

The supercharger oi the present invention is shown as a whole at 18 and is positioned at the front of the engine and driven from the usual crankshaft. The superchargerhas the customary inlet 20 from the carburetor and the outlet 22 leading to the engine. At the outlet 22 there is provided a jacketed hot spot 24, the inner portion 26 of which is square in cross section and has a valve 28 fixed to a stem 30 to the exposed end of which there is applied a sprinof 31 which will normally hold the valve in the position shown in Fig. 2. As the carburetted air is drawn through the supercharger it may carry along therewith some entrained fuel and the functiony olt the valve is to deiect such fuel to the hot spot wall at a high velocity in order that it may become mechanically pulverized before reaching the firing chambers.

The jacket of the hot spot is shown at 32 and has an entrance 34 and au exit 36. Exhaust gases are led to the entrance 34 by means of the pipe 38 which communicates as at 40 with the exhaust manifold. From the outlet opening 36 the exhaust gases are led back to the exhaust tube 16 through the pipe in5 the :function of which 1s to deflect .such Y 40.- As will beseen from Figs. 2 and 3 the. jacket 82 and inner portion 26 are spaced to provide for the channel 42 through which the hot exhaust gases may circulate.

' In order that the hot exhaust gasmapplied to the hot spot may be regulated, the following mechanism is provided. Mounted -by means of 'a saddle 46 on a pipe 44 formin a 5 part of the intake 14 is a bellows 48 whlch communicates with `the interior of the pipe 44 by means of the'opening 50. Inasmuch as the pipe 44 is thedirect connection between` the intake manifold 14 and the supercharger the pressure in both pipe 44 and the manifold will be substantially the same. The interior of the bellows 48 is therefore subject to in'- take manifold pressure. v

The saddle 46 is provided with an upstanding arm 52 to the upper end of vwhich there is pivoted a short link 54^which in turnf is pivoted toa link 56 extending across the upper portion of the bellows and having at-` tached vat its central portion a'short link 58 pivoted to an ear 60 secured on the upper portion of the bellows. The opposite end'of Athe link 56 has pivoted thereto as at 62, a suitably shapedlink 64, 'the lower portion of which is pivotally attached as at 66 to a lever 68 secured to a shaft 70, extendin through the! exhaust tube 16 and to which t ere is securedv a valve 72. From the structure just described it will be apparent that when the pressure in the pipe 44 increases it will cause the bellows 48 to expand yand thereby cause the valve 72 to more and more assume' the dotted line position shown 'in ,Figa 1. On .f the other hand the contraction of the bellows 48 will cause the valve to swing in the opposite direction until it assumes its maximum closed position as shown in Eig. 1. The position of the valve 7 2 will determine'the proportion of exhaust gas which passes through the pipes 38 and 40 and circulates around t e 40 hot spot, and the proportion of hot as so circulating will depend entirely upon t e intake manifold pressure. While the: pressure is very low all the hot gas willbe'forced through the hot spot but when'it is high uvery little exhaust gas will be caused to circulate through the hot. spot jacket.

that a means has been provided for automatically regulating' and governing the amount of hot exhaust gas which will circulate through the hot spot jacket. This feature is important for when the pressure in the intake manifoldis high it is desirable that less heat beapplied tothe incoming carburetted mixture, while when the pressure vis low it is referable to have a considerable portion o heaty applied to the fuel mixture.

As far as I am aware no previous construction'has incorporated heat control vconnection with a supercharged engine.

'I claim:

1. In combination with an internal'combustiom engine having a carburetor, a supercharger positioned between the carburetor 05 and engine, a heater vfor vthey.,- carburetted.

fuel independent of the supercharger and 0- sitioned at the supercharger outlet, means or Aconducting the fuel to the engine, and means ifili1 tie heater for pulverizing the unvolatilized e 2.`In combination witlran internal combustionA engine having a carburetor, a supercharger positioned between the carburetor and engine, a heater for the carburetted fuel independent of the snpercharger and positioned at the supercharger outlet, means for conducting the carburetted fuel to the engine, and a valve in the heater for pulverizing the unvolatilized fuel. i

3. In combination with an internal combustion engine having a carburetorf a' supercharger positioned between the carburetor and engine, a heater for the carburetted fuel independent of the supercharger and posi tioned at the supercharger out et, means for conducting the fuel to the engine, and a resiliently heldvalve in the heater for pulverizing the unvolatilized fuel.

- 4. In combination w1th an internal combustion engine having a carburetor, a supertcharger positioned between the carburetor and lengine,a heater for the carburetted fuel independent of the supercharger and positioned at the supercharger outlet, means for conducting the fuel to the engine, and a re- 'Y siliently held fiat valve extending entirely across the 4fuel passage in the heater for pulverizing the unvolatilized fuel. v i 5. In combination with an' internal combustion engine having a carburetor,"a supercharger positioned between the carburetor vand engine, a heaterv for the carburetted fuel independent of the supercharger and positioned at the supercharger outlet, means for conducting the vfuel to the engine,'means in the heater for pulverizing the' unvolatilizedv fuel, means for conducting exhaust gas to and from the heater, and means for automatically controlling the flow of exhaust gas from the pressurein the intake manifold.

n In testimony whereof I' aiix my signature. It will be seen from the above description l l ROLAND ve nU'rcrIINsoN.-V 

